Halloween is upon us…and there is no more appropriate topic that we could cover than how to effectively scare away donors. In the, um, spirit of the season, let’s look at six ways to guarantee donors will want nothing to do with you!
10 Business Essentials for Nonprofits
It often seems that when otherwise business-savvy individuals become involved in a nonprofit organization, they set aside all they ever learned in business and proceed to operate their nonprofit as if business rules do not matter. As most soon find out, they matter a lot. In this post, let’s take a look (in no particular [...]
Thoughts On Nonprofit Leadership (Part I)
The word “leader” conjures up a variety of images: your old Little League coach, a military general, your boss…even the president of the United States. Regardless of who (or what) comes to mind, there is the common thread of someone who leads. But what does leadership really mean? Certainly it means more than just being [...]
Don’t Avoid Your Nonprofit’s Problems
Imagine this scenario: You are catching up on Facebook one night when you see a post from a friend. Someone you both know has been diagnosed with a horrible disease and given little hope for recovery. You find out later that this person had experienced all the warning signs…pain, fatigue, other clues…for months before they [...]
Difficult People on Your Nonprofit Board
Difficult people. Whether it be a co-worker, a neighbor, or even that very special “in-law”, we all have them in our lives. Chances are, you will have one serving on your nonprofit’s board of directors…if not now, eventually. Sort of like death and taxes, there is a certain inevitability to it. Given the volume of [...]
When The Going Gets Tough
We all have our moments of discouragement. There are times when we are getting beaten up so badly that we would rather throw in the towel than continue to get pummeled. This situation can occur in just about any area of our lives…personal and professional. But what do you do when it happens in your [...]
Avoiding 501(c)(3) Founder’s Syndrome
Founder’s syndrome. It affects nonprofits and for-profits alike. And it can be crippling to any organization. Understanding what it is and how to avoid it is crucial to the future of your 501(c)(3). Taken from that most-reputable of sources, Wikipedia, founder’s syndrome is defined as, “a pattern of negative or undesirable behavior on the part [...]
Strategic Thinking For Your Nonprofit’s Year-End
2009 is rapidly coming to a close. And once again, we find ourselves amazed at how fast the year has gone by. Funny how we have this conversation every year, but we act like it’s the first time it went by this fast. Just as December 31 rolls around every year, so does the need [...]
Conflict Within Your Nonprofit – Handle With Care
The honeymoon is over. It seems like yesterday that everyone was full of passion, vision and warm fuzzies. You were going to save the world and nothing could stand in your way. Now, passions have cooled, visions have diverged and the warm fuzzies have been replace with contempt and backbiting. How did things go south [...]
Thoughts on Nonprofit Leadership Part II
Posted on March 1, 2011 by Greg McRay in Commentary, Managing a Nonprofit
This is installment #2 in our ongoing series on leadership. Our first installment was more of an introduction. In this post, we are going to explore the concept of governance vs. management. Governance and management: For many, these are interchangeable terms. They shouldn’t be. And in far too many nonprofits, the leadership fails to understand [...]